Shack dwellers fighting for ‘Marikana' land in Cape Town

The homes of hundreds of shack dwellers have been repeatedly destroyed by South African government agents this week in a settlement named Marikana in Philippi East, Cape Town.

Marikana was so named to honour the workers who died for a living wage in the miner strikes last year and because the residents are also “organising ourselves peacefully and are willing to die for our struggle” says Sandile Ngoxolo. Many residents have rebuilt their homes three times in as many days and seen it torn down each time, but this is the only home they have.  

The land, which was previously vacant, was occupied last week particularly on 27 April – the day our partner, Abahlali baseMjondolo, has dubbed UnFreedom Day - which marks when South African held their first non-racial democratic elections 19 years ago. As part of the commemoration homeless Abahlali members occupied the land and built houses.

The shacks were built and occupied, meaning that under South African law it is illegal to evict the residents without a court order. With no such documents, every day the police, law enforcement and anti-land invasion have come and destroyed their houses, shot at residents with rubber bullets, dispersed them with pepper spray and arrested four people.

“When they come to destroy these shacks they show us no court orders or papers they just pull these people out like dogs,” said Cindy Ketani from Abahlali baseMjondolo. The authorities act with impunity knowing that the residents have no access to much needed legal support.

This week the UK announced terminating £19 million in aid by 2015 to South Africa, in what the South African government has criticised as a unilateral move. The UK government have stated that this is because of the progress made by South Africa in the last few years.

The issues with aid versus development and the manner in which this decision was made have been discussed at length. Yet what has been ignored is the issue of progress for whom.

Since apartheid South Africa has become the second most unequal country in the world. Under the constitution, every South African has a right to house, yet one in four South African still live in informal settlements. The housing backlog in Cape Town alone is estimated to be between 360,000 and 400,000.

For Zoe Zulu (pictured below), a mother of a one-month-old son and a five-year-old daughter, who was forced out of her home yesterday by the same officials who moments before she had given water to, progress seems a long way off. Like the other residents of the 126 shacks that were destroyed on Labour Day, she has nowhere to go and has vowed to yet again rebuild her shack and not leave Marikana until she has been given a home.